Eva Rausing’s husband, heir to fortune, charged in her death, may have lived with body for days

Eva Rausing's husband, heir to fortune, charged in her death, may have lived with body for days

LONDON — The heir to the Tetra Pak carton fortune, Hans Kristian Rausing, was charged on Monday with delaying the burial of his wife Eva Rausing, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

Eva Rausing was found dead in the couple’s central London mansion last Monday, after her husband was arrested on suspicion on driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Rausing, 49, was charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of his wife’s body. The charge extends to “on or before” last Monday, July 9.

The charge gives credence to British media reports that Rausing, son of Swedish packaging billionaire Hans Rausing, one of the world’s richest men, may have lived with his wife’s body for a week or more.

The Rausing family made their fortune making foil-lined drinks cartons, a business which became a global manufacturing empire worth billions.

The couple, who have four children all under 18 years old, met at a U.S. drugs rehabilitation clinic in the early 1990s but never conquered their problems with addiction, despite a host of connections with anti-drug charities to which they devoted millions.

Police are treating the death of Eva Rausing, 48, as “unexplained” and a post-mortem examination held last week failed to establish a formal cause of death.